Sg] THE SYSTEMS OF FARMING gg 



of farms operated by cash tenants. Not alone was the 

 absolute number of farms so worked more than trebled 

 but their relative number was almost doubled — the per- 

 centage moved from thirteen to twenty-six. It is signif- 

 icant that the decade 1890 to 1900 showed a larger in- 

 crease than the preceding decade. 



The geographical distribution of the cash tenancies re- 

 veals the fact that they have tended to preponderate in 

 the main cotton belt of the state. Although in 1880 the 

 percentage of cash tenants was larger in the counties of 

 the cotton belt than elsewhere, they were then and there 

 outnumbered by the farms worked by share tenants. 

 This was also true in 1890, though the difference was not 

 so great. By 1900, however, the cash tenants had the 

 ascendency in the cotton belt as over against the share 

 tenants — which really means that the " standing renters " 

 outnumbered the " croppers." The belt to which refer- 

 ence is made passes through the middle of the state in a 

 southwesterly direction, taking in as it goes about six 

 tiers of counties and also including most of the counties 

 in the southwestern corner of the state. 1 This is not only 

 the main cotton region of the state but, as will be re- 

 membered, it is also the section in which the negroes 

 outnumber the whites. 



This suggestion invites a consideration of the relative 

 number of whites and blacks falling within the census 

 category of cash tenants. In 1900 sixty percent of these 

 tenants were negroes. 2 Throughout the main region 

 where the cash system tends to prevail, the number of 

 negro cash tenants exceeded the number of white cash 

 tenants. Forty-two per cent of the farms of negro farm- 

 ers were operated by cash tenants; whereas seventeen 



1 See map in Appendix, infra, 2 Twelfth Census, vol. v, p. 69. 



